Chapter 373: The Cuban War of Independence

In the second half of 1895, there was actually one more matter worth mentioning: the outbreak of the Second Cuban War of Independence.

Ever since Spain and Britain swapped colonies, Spain had already abandoned its focus on the Cuban colony. But just because Spain stopped paying attention did not mean that those Cubans seeking independence ceased to exist.

On the contrary, because the colony had been traded to the British, those Cubans who wanted independence shifted their hatred from the Spanish to the British.

Several years earlier, these people had wanted to launch a revolution within Cuba, but they were quickly suppressed by the British.

British naval power far exceeded that of Spain; by mobilizing a few warships to dock along the Cuban coast, they could easily make the Cubans abandon any thoughts of an uprising.

There was no help for it; in reality, Cuba had a shape that was narrow from north to south and wide from east to west, didn't it? In particular, the region where Havana, the capital of the Cuban colony, was located was the narrowest part of the entire Cuban territory.

The British fleet could not only easily threaten the Cuban capital of Havana, but could also threaten other important cities and agricultural regions in Cuba.

If the Cubans continued to be unappreciative, the sugarcane they primarily cultivated would be directly destroyed by the British, which would deal a severe blow to the Cuban economy.

The sugar industry was the pillar of the Cuban economy and the reason why these Cuban immigrants were wealthy. They could incite the local black population in Cuba to resist the colonial government, but they could never accept their own plantations being destroyed because of war.

The British's forceful suppression made the white Cubans abandon the idea of seeking independence, but they soon welcomed a new opportunity a few years later.

This so-called opportunity was, in fact, the British Boer War.

The Boer War allowed the world to see the British army's shortcomings and also allowed the Cubans to see hope for gaining independence.

However, wanting to gain an independent status within the British colonial system was quite difficult. To increase their odds of success, these white people in the Cuban colony decided to find themselves a few allies and supporters.

Anyone capable of supporting Cuba in seeking independent status would certainly have to be a competitor or enemy of the British.

The first country these white Cubans thought of was France.

There was no help for it; France was simply too good at this. The reason why the thirteen colonies, the predecessor of the United States, were able to become independent under British colonial rule was that France had contributed significantly at the time.

The American Founding Father Louis XVI not only provided the thirteen colonies with a large amount of war loans at the time, but also provided many weapons, equipment, ammunition, and supplies.

That was not all. To avenge their defeat by the British in the Seven Years' War in North America, France even mobilized a portion of its army to join the American Revolutionary War directly.

It was precisely because of the desperate help from the French that the thirteen colonies, which only had a population of two or three million at the time, successfully gained independence from British rule.

And the American Founding Father Louis XVI, due to his extravagant lifestyle and financial losses from multiple wars, eventually triggered domestic turmoil in France due to an economic crisis, which led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

From this aspect, one can see that the enmity between Britain and France was indeed deep. Under such circumstances, the fact that Britain and France could still put aside their past grievances to jointly oppose Germany further demonstrates just how powerful Germany was during World War I.

Before launching the independence uprising, the white people of the Cuban colony specifically sought out the French government to request its assistance.

Unfortunately, the French government at this time was no longer the French government of the Louis XVI era, and a small Cuba was not as full of potential as the original thirteen colonies.

The French government agreed to provide support to the Cuban colony, but it was limited only to a certain amount of military loans and resources in the form of weapons, equipment, and supplies.

It was far from possible to get France to send troops; even this military loan was only granted because France saw that the Cuban sugar industry was still relatively prosperous.

Although the French government's support was truly limited, this did not make the Cuban revolutionary leaders lose heart. The reason was simple: in addition to French support, the white Cubans also gained support from the United States.

During this period in history, the United States was already preparing for war with Spain. The United States had long coveted Cuba, which was right on its doorstep, and they also intended to use the historical Spain as a stepping stone to proclaim American power.

But now, because the Cuban colony had been swapped to the British, the situation for the United States in Cuba was not as unbridled.

Although these white Cubans seeking independence had the support of the United States behind them, the Americans mostly kept themselves hidden, as they were unwilling to offend the British under these circumstances.

Do not look at how rapidly the United States had developed in the 100 years since its independence; in reality, there was still a large gap between the United States and the European powers.

The primary reason for the industrial and economic prosperity of the United States was that the land of North America possessed rich mineral and natural resources, coupled with various gold rushes that attracted a large number of immigrants, allowing the American economy and industry to achieve long-term take-off.

However, in terms of industrial foundation, the United States could not compare to the mainstream powers of Europe. Whether in terms of talent reserves or industrial technology, the United States was a level behind countries like Britain, France, and Germany, and in terms of industrial foundation, it was only on par with countries like Austria and Spain.

Of course, foundation aside, the total industrial scale of the United States was still quite powerful.

But if total industrial scale cannot be converted into military strength, it does not lead to much of an improvement in national status.

When Americans conducted world rankings, they would still consider placing the United States in the top four or five in the world.

But if Europeans were to write a world national ranking, the United States would not even be in the top five; it would be good enough if it could hold onto the sixth-place spot in the world.

Because most people, when considering a country's comprehensive strength, would place more weight on military rankings.

There is no need to say much about the American army; the current size of the army had been cut to a pitiful few tens of thousands, not even reaching a fraction of that of the European powers.

The American navy had a certain scale, but compared to the European powers, it was also at the bottom. If it were not for the fact that American industry and economy were indeed quite good, the United States might only be a bottom-tier existence among the powers.

Such a phenomenon was indeed completely different from the history of later generations.

In fact, the reason why the United States was able to become a world hegemon after the Second World War was by relying on the blood-sucking of Europe during the two world wars.

Before the First World War, the United States was just an ordinary power in the world. Let alone the super powers like Britain, France, and Germany looking down on the United States, even Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy often would not look at the United States squarely when discussing it.

At this time, the role of the United States in the world was just that of an upstart, a country without any foundation but possessing decent industry and economy.

Precisely because of the outbreak of the First World War, the United States first relied on its status as a neutral country to trade extensively with both sides of the war, not only transforming from a debtor nation into a creditor nation, but also obtaining a large amount of gold, paper currency, and other resources from European countries.

Many Europeans who came to the United States to escape the great war enriched the American talent pool.

Among them, the more famous ones included renowned scientists such as Albert Einstein and Theodore von Kármán.

Einstein naturally needs no introduction; he was the top theoretical scientist in the field of physics. As for Theodore von Kármán, this scientist also made outstanding contributions in the fields of aerospace and rocketry.

It was precisely because the United States gained the support of these scientists who fled the war in Europe that it made up for the lack of industrial technology and scientific talent reserves, and then caught up with European countries in terms of science and technology.

And in 1895, before the two world wars had occurred, the United States not only lagged behind the four traditional European powers of Britain, France, Germany, and Russia in the world power rankings, but even had to rank below Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, placing only ahead of Italy at seventh in the world.

Of course, some newspapers that were more optimistic about the United States would rank it above the Austro-Hungarian Empire and below Spain, at sixth in the world.

This was about the peak of the United States at the time. From this aspect, one can see why the United States went through long preparations before launching the Spanish-American War; in this era, not only did Europeans look down on the United States, but many Americans themselves were not very optimistic about their own country's military power.

Just when these white Cubans had gained support from France and the United States and believed they had enough to launch an independence uprising, officials from the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico found them, stating that Spain was willing to provide them with a military loan and sell them weapons, equipment, and supplies at prices lower than the market rate.

The Puerto Rico colony was the only colony Spain had left in the Americas. This colony had been specifically retained by Wang Gong during the Cuban colony swap. This could be considered Spain's last gateway in the Americas. If Puerto Rico were lost, Spain's colonial reach would completely withdraw from the Americas, which would also represent Spain bidding a final farewell to its once glorious history.

In any case, Puerto Rico was further east of Cuba; as long as the Americans were not out of their minds, it would be impossible for them to cross Cuba to find trouble with the Spanish in Puerto Rico.

The Puerto Rican colonial government usually kept a low profile. After all, it was Spain's last colony in the Americas, and Puerto Rico was separated from the Spanish mainland by the entire Atlantic Ocean; it was difficult to receive timely help from the Spanish mainland when encountering danger.

Spain stationed an entire colonial garrison regiment there, which, combined with the local Puerto Rican police, amounted to an armed force of about 2, 00 people.

The reason for stationing so many troops in tiny Puerto Rico was mainly because the local population of Puerto Rico was not small.

Before Spain abandoned the Cuban colony, the population of the Cuban colony was approximately 500, 00 to 600, 00.

And while the area of Puerto Rico was less than one-tenth of Cuba's, its population had already reached more than one-sixth of Cuba's.

It is worth mentioning that, whether for the Cuban colony or Puerto Rico, the population calculated only included those recognized white and yellow people.

If one were to count the large number of local black laborers, the population of both Cuba and Puerto Rico would multiply several times over.

The population of Cuba during the period of Spanish rule was only five or six hundred thousand, but after the United States acquired Cuba and conducted a census, the population of Cuba quickly approached the scale of 2 million.

The biggest change in this was that the United States regarded black people as citizens, and a large number of black people who were not previously counted in the population became residents of Cuba under American control.

Spain certainly would not count these black people during population statistics, which was the reason why the population of various colonies in official Spanish data was always low.

If these black populations were counted, the population of the Congo territory alone would be at least in the tens of millions. Not to mention that the Guinea colony also possessed over ten million black natives; the combined black population of these colonies was more than the number of Spaniards in Spain itself.

When these white Cuban plantation owners discovered that it was the Spanish colonial government of Puerto Rico that had approached them, they were initially somewhat surprised, but they did not refuse the goodwill from the Puerto Rican colonial government.

Although the white Cuban plantation owners and the Spanish colonial government had indeed had certain frictions before, those past conflicts had long since become a thing of the past.

Currently, the one colonizing Cuba was the British Empire, which had nothing to do with Spain. In fact, looking at the current relationship between Spain and Britain, if Cuba could seek independence from British colonial rule, it would actually be a good thing for Spain.

As the saying goes, the enemy of an enemy is a friend. Based on this thought, the white Cuban plantation owners still made contact with the Puerto Rican colonial government and discussed the content of their cooperation.

Based on the principle of causing as much trouble for the British as possible, Spain was quite generous to these Cuban immigrants who had once belonged to them.

In addition to providing them with a low-interest loan of up to 5 million pesetas, they could also purchase Spanish weapons at will.

This low-interest loan of up to 5 million pesetas could arm an army of tens of thousands. If these white Cuban immigrants were capable enough, they could completely rely on this army of tens of thousands to overthrow British colonial rule in Cuba.

Of course, even if the combat effectiveness of the Cuban army was relatively poor, it could still cause a shock to British colonial rule in Cuba.

In any case, no matter what, it would cause some trouble for the British, and as long as the British had trouble, it was beneficial to Spain.

Spain's help was an unexpected joy for Cuba, which also made these white Cubans decide to accelerate the outbreak of the independence revolution.

The party calling for Cuban independence, led by He Sai, officially called for a popular uprising in Cuba in July 1895, and it received responses from people across Cuba a few days later.

Counting those black populations, Cuba, with a total of less than 2 million people, managed to assemble nearly 10, 00 insurgent troops in less than a month.

For the sake of their own interests, the white plantation owners incited the black laborers on their plantations to join this uprising. The black people were already quite hostile toward the colonizers; they didn't even need much incitement from the white Cuban plantation owners before they spontaneously joined the ranks of the uprising.

This uprising regarding the pursuit of Cuban independence was carried out in a grand manner, with almost the majority of white, yellow, and black people supporting it.

In fact, this was also due to the special nature of the Cuban colony. Because of the developed sugar industry, although the Cuban colony was small in area and population, its income ranked among the top of all colonies of all countries in the world.

Precisely because of this, the colonial government collected a large amount of taxes from these plantations every year. If they could gain independence, these white plantation owners would pay a large sum less in colonial taxes, which was the reason why they tried every possible means to push for Cuban independence.

Reaching a scale of 10, 00 troops was not the limit for Cuba. The British colonial government in Cuba suppressed this uprising, but they soon discovered that forceful suppression had no effect at all.

The more they suppressed, the more intense the resistance of these Cubans became. What originally started as just a few cities responding to He Sai's call turned into a response from almost the entirety of Cuba through the process of suppression.

Now the British government finally understood the reason why Spain had abandoned the Cuban colony. Although Cuba could provide a large amount of fiscal tax revenue during times of peace and stability, if the Cubans started to riot for independence, the commotion would be anything but small.

Whatever amount of tax had been collected from Cuba previously would all have to be poured back in when suppressing the rebellion. Like Spain, if Britain wanted to pacify Cuba, it had to fight across the ocean.

Even if Canada could provide a portion of supplies for the Cuban battlefield, it still could not change the fact that suppressing the rebellion in Cuba required a large amount of additional military expenditure.

For the British, Cuba could not be lost.

The British had used several colonies located in West Africa to trade for Cuba; it would be a strange thing if they just let it go so easily.

Fortunately, Cuba was just an island nation, and furthermore, the areas surrounding Cuba were all within the British sphere of influence; even if the Cuban issue were temporarily shelved, it would not affect British sovereignty over Cuba.

For the British government, since these Cubans wanted to make trouble, let them make trouble in this region of Cuba for the time being.

To the north of Cuba were the British Bahamas, and to the south was the British colony of Jamaica. To the southwest was the British colony of Honduras; it was almost completely surrounded by British colonies.

Under such circumstances, even if the Cubans controlled the Cuban region, they would be unable to develop stably.

Precisely because of this reason, Britain decided to temporarily abandon Cuba, concentrating all of Cuba's limited military forces in the colonial capital of Havana and abandoning all Cuban regions east of Havana.

As long as they held onto the capital of the Cuban colony, it meant that Britain still possessed sovereignty over this land. No matter how much the Cubans rioted, they only had a population of a little over a million; as long as Britain waited until it resolved the Boer War, these rioting Cubans would be a matter that could be solved in a few days.

The British decision to temporarily abandon Cuba made the Cuban independence uprising even more lively.

In the two months since the Cubans launched the uprising, they had obtained a large amount of weapons and equipment from France, Spain, and the United States.

Just the rifles alone amounted to over 20, 00; these rifles were enough for Cuba to establish a powerful army.

The Cubans did indeed do just that. It was just that in the Cuban army, black people seemed to be the majority.

White plantation owners would not personally join the army to fight; it was already quite good that they could send a few black laborers from their plantations.

Black people occupied the majority of the Cuban army, yellow people occupied a portion, and white people were only a very small minority.

An army with such a racial composition naturally does not have much combat effectiveness, which is the reason why the British chose to temporarily abandon the eastern lands of Cuba; otherwise, whether these troops could even occupy Cuba would be a question.

There are only five thousand words today, as something came up and delayed me. As compensation, I will extend the ten-thousand-word daily goal by one day (there are still three days of ten-thousand-word daily goals remaining). Thank you for your support!

(End of this chapter)